A victory for the 1st ammendment, or is it?

I caught this story earlier today and the below quote caught my eye...

American Legion members upset over court ruling

A U.S. district judge ruled a Colorado man charged with falsely claiming he was an ex-Marine decorated with medals including the Purple Heart should go free.

The judge said the Stolen Valor Act which prohibits making statements like that is unconstitutional because it violates freedom of speech. For those who have left their families and served in the military the news is shocking.

I'm not sure what to think about this. For me, this doesn't seem like a freedom of speech issue.

Seems head scratching really. And I honestly don't get the link to freedom of speech.

Stolen Valor Act

well i only skimmed the article, but it doesn't even say what context he made the claims... so i think that if he was writing/printing in some way these claims rather than verbally that might be more serious, but if he's just sayin it, i don't see how it could even enter a court.

he is protected under the first amendment, the stolen valor act is pretty pointless because your accolades are on record. slap on the wrist and get out of my office, etc..

There is already a thread started about this, which can be found here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

--airspoon

[edit on 18-7-2010 by airspoon]

OH I agree that the man has the right to say he was a hero. He just has to pay the price for being caught in a bare faced lie. He is discredited in the court of public opinion,he has proved himself as a man with no honor. The sad fact is that a lie is illegal only in a court of law.

If it were illegal in the public forum Obama and Bush and Clinton and all their ilk would be serving time in prison.